Ear Infection
by Reina Ariadne
Summary: Kagami ponders over an issue that all people in a relationship often have- how to say "I love you" to their partner. On the same day, Kuroko's having an ear infection and Kagami takes it as the perfect chance to do so. /oneshot/


**Kuroko no Basket**

**Ear Infection**

**Summary: Kagami ponders over an issue that all people in a relationship often have- how to say "I love you" to their partner. On the same day, Kuroko's having an ear infection. and Kagami's takes it as the perfect chance to do so. /oneshot/**

**A/n: So I had no idea what I was thinking while writing this. The idea just came to me while I was taking my Chemistry paper, strangely. I stored it in my brain until today, when I have enough time to actually write something relatively of quality. XD**

**Whatever Kuroko experiences in the first few paragraphs is actually my own experiences when I had an ear infection in March, thank God it's gone now (I couldn't hear for 5 days omg). :(**

**Disclaimer: I do not own KnB, blah blah blah...**

* * *

Kuroko woke up with a strange sensation in his left ear. He still heard the sounds he heard every morning, of birds calling and insects chirping, but they sounded strangely... Muffled. It kind of sounded like when he was underwater in a swimming pool and someone spoke to him from above the water.

He tilted his head, right side facing the window. The morning sounds intensified slightly in volume.

Then he tilted his left ear towards the window, and was surprised by what he heard.

Absolute silence.

Feeling slightly panicked, he tried all the methods he could think of to relieve what he thought was "cabin pressure"- pinching his nose then blowing, swallowing repeatedly, and even tickling his own nose with a feather to make himself sneeze. All this just left him with a slight ache in his still-blocked ear.

Finally, he gingerly stuck a finger into his left ear, and winced when he was rewarded with a sharp pain where his fingertip met his eardrum.

"Ahh, I see," he murmured, "an ear infection."

But as he had basketball practice today, and they were training for an upcoming match against a neighbouring school, he couldn't afford to miss a single practice.

And besides, his light and now lover needed him.

Deciding that he would go to the doctor after practice, Kuroko hence put on his uniform and headed off to school.

* * *

A tall, red-headed man walked quickly down the street, a giant among the masses. He was at least a head taller then most of the people around him, and the only way one could tell that he was actually only a 16-year old student was the Seirin High uniform on his back. His eyebrows were scrunched together and eyes cast downwards as if deep in thought.

And deep in thought he was.

"I've been going out with Kuroko for like... What, half a year?" he thought to himself. And in those six months, he had whispered countless sweet nothings into the blunette's ear, yet not even once could he bring himself to say three simple words.

_I love you._

Three words which supposedly rolled off the tongue with ease if you didn't give much thought to them; but impossible to even enunciate if you did.

And Kagami gave so much thought to it it was ridiculous. Would Kuroko respond favourably? He had no doubt he would, but still... He knew it wasn't a matter of the other's response, but his own insecurity, yet he couldn't help himself.

And as he walked along the pavement, thinking about this important matter concerning himself and his lover, he suddenly spotted a familiar blue-haired figure crossing the road ahead of him...

... Oblivious to the car that was speeding right towards him.

"Kuroko! Dammit you idiot, _move_!" With a sudden burst of adrenaline fuelled by panic and fear, Kagami somehow managed to dash through the throngs of people just in time to grab his lover around the middle and pull him out of harm's way, missing the car by a hair's breadth.

"K... Kuroko you bastard, what the hell were you thinking?! You could have died!" Kagami scolded, panting from exertion and relief. "Didn't you hear the car coming?!"

"I have an ear infection, Kagami-kun," Kuroko replied, still sitting in Kagami's lap where the latter had pulled him into out of the path of the car.

"A ear infection? So... You mean you can't hear? At all?" Kagami asked, surprised.

The bluenette just nodded.

"Then... How can you understand what I'm saying?" he asked cautiously. You never knew with Kuroko.

"I read lips." came the pleasant reply.

Kagami stared at him. Kuroko just smiled sweetly, then stood up, brushed himself off and walked off to school, sure that the redhead would soon follow.

"He can't hear what I'm saying then? This might just be the right opportunity to..." Kagami didn't finish his thought, he didn't have to, as he followed his shadow and lover to school.

* * *

Kuroko made it through school without any more serious mishaps (although he had been given an earful when he didn't hear his teacher calling him in class), and went for practice after.

He decided not to let the others know about his ear. He was going to see the doctor later anyway, and besides it wouldn't affect his playing much. After being asked a quick "are you alright?" by Kagami, he just replied with a simple "yes", and practice began.

Practice started with the usual inhuman number of situps, pushups and lap-running forced onto them by their even more inhumane coach, then basic skill practice such as dribbling, shooting and passing, the last obviously being Kuroko's area of expertise. And to wrap things up, a practice match between the regulars and other members to prepare them for the upcoming match.

All went well at the beginning, Kuroko performing as he should and working together with Kagami as they always did- like a dream.

Then, it happened.

A stray basketball bounced off the rim of the basket after one of the non-regular members had tried to make a shot- it hit the rim at an angle, then sailed in a perfect arc towards the head of an unsuspecting bluenette.

"Kuroko, watch out!"

But their phantom player made no move to run, and everyone could only watch with wide eyes as the ball connected with the side of the teal-haired boy's head with a loud "thud".

* * *

"Kuroko, watch out!"

He had heard the warning, had turned to face the oncoming danger, but even as he did he knew that it was probably too late to avoid it.

The last thing he remmebered seeing was a pair of familiar feet clad in black **[1]**size 9 Jordans running towards him, before his vision exploded in stars and the world went black.

"Kuroko!"

This was the second time Kagami had cried his lover's name with panic in his voice that day. He was at the blunette's side even before the boy had hit the ground. Meanwhile, Riko instructed the remaining first-years to bring an ice pack and stretcher.

_IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou _he repeated over and over in his mind. He knew that it was nothing fatal, but it shocked him all the same. He realised that if something really _had_ happened and he hadn't been able to tell Kuroko that he loved him, truly and completely, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

So when Kuroko finally stirred, blinking sleepily up at the redhead as if he'd just woken from a nap, Kagami finally gathered his courage, took a deep breath, and opened his mouth-

Only to be cut off by his coach.

"Kagami, after practice, bring Kuroko to the doctor, understand?" she instructed. "And Kuroko, just rest here until practice is over. You can join us if you're feeling better tomorrow."

The two could do nothing but nod mutely. No one in the team with half a brain disobeyed their coach, especially if it concerned the safety of her members, and _especially _if you valued your life or at least your reproductive organs.

* * *

_After practice_

Kuroko and Kagami left the neighbourhood clinic, Kuroko with a bandage wrapped around his head and a bottle of ear-drops for his infection- "just drip three drops into your ear every night until the pain goes away and you'll be fine"- and made their way to the Maji Burger for dinner, as had become their daily ritual. Then after dinner, they walked home together, Kagami walking Kuroko to his house like he always did.

As they neared Kuroko's house, Kagami steeled his nerves _(why the hell was he feeling so nervous? And was it normal for him to feel sweaty and his palms to feel clammy?)_ and told himself: _This is it. I have to do this _now!

"Ku... Kuroko!" he called. His lover, walking in front of him, made no indication that he heard. _Oh right_, Kagami thought,_ his ear infection. _

But that was a good thing to the redhead. _Maybe this won't be so difficult after all._

"I lo... I love..." _Dammit, why am I stuttering now? _

"I love you!" he finally squeaked to Kuroko's back, embarrassed that his voice was an octave higher than it already was.

A moment of silence, then...

"Did you say something, Kagami-kun?" his lover was looking over his shoulder at him with a quizzical look.

"...Nothing." Kagami's voice was gruff, his face a light shade of pink.

"I see. Well, goodnight and see you tomorrow, Kagami-kun," Kuroko said politely, as he stepped into his house and made to close the door.

"G... Goodnight," Kagami muttered, the redness still evident in his face.

_"And I love you too, Kagami-kun." _

_What?! _Kagami gaped at the closed door in shock, before shaking his head and turning to leave. With his ear infection, Kuroko wouldn't have heard him. And besides, Kuroko was walking in front of him, there was no way he could have read his lips!

_No,_ the readheaded teen told himself, shaking his head, _must have just been a figment of my imagination._

Watching the retreating figure from the window,Kuroko tried, but failed, to stifle a laugh at the teen's bewildered expression. After all, he didn't tell Kagami that the infection was only in his _left _ear...

* * *

**[1] I don't know what's Kagami's shoe size so I just made it up. XD If someone does know, feel free to PM me and I'll change it. :)**

**A/n: I really love writing Kuroko's mischievous side! He's so much cuter that way, even if a little OOC. XD**

**Hoped you guys liked it! I had lots of fun writing it too. It's somewhat like crack but... not?**

**Remember to leave a review! ;p**


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